Gaming PlayStation 5

Astro’s review embargo lifts tomorrow. Not sure where it’ll land in terms of scores but I’m sure excited to play this (probably 2 years later). It looks like everything I wanted Team Asobi to do after I played the delightful playroom. Hoepfully it blows up and we see such expansive Astro games regularly in the future.
 
Astro’s review embargo lifts tomorrow. Not sure where it’ll land in terms of scores but I’m sure excited to play this (probably 2 years later). It looks like everything I wanted Team Asobi to do after I played the delightful playroom. Hoepfully it blows up and we see such expansive Astro games regularly in the future.
I'd be surprised if it's anything less than universal acclaim. Everyone adored Astro's Playroom and, those who played it, Astrobot Rescue Mission on PSVR. The hands-on previews were all extremely positive. The only question is whether it will have enough ideas to keep things fresh for its longer runtime, but there's so much creativity at Team Asobi I doubt it'll be an issue.

I'm probably going to make an exception and buy it day one, even if I don't necessarily have time for it yet, just because this is the sort of stuff I want to support.
 
The Spiderman games are a lot of fun but I think the second one just edges it for me. They've built on the very good combat by switching between Peter and Miles. Plenty of the missions are very entertaining as well.

There was far too much focus on Kraven in the first 2/3 of the game, who was largely a very uninteresting character. The final 1/3 of the game was amazing, and I think if the entire game had that level of quality we would be talking about arguably the best superhero videogame ever. I get why they couldn’t make the entire game about that, and building up to it did make things more impactful, but they really could have done with a more interesting villain than Kraven
 
Astro’s review embargo lifts tomorrow. Not sure where it’ll land in terms of scores but I’m sure excited to play this (probably 2 years later). It looks like everything I wanted Team Asobi to do after I played the delightful playroom. Hoepfully it blows up and we see such expansive Astro games regularly in the future.
It will review very well. I'm sure of that.

I might actually stay up and play it for a bit after midnight and I never do that.
 
94 now!

Delighted for this game. Playroom was pure blissful joy so I’m stoked for this.
 
It looks every bit as good as I could've hoped for. We can only hope the critical success translates into commercial success. We need Sony to see that this is what we want.
 
Hearing the new Astro Bot is around 12 hours long, is that accurate? Incredible score anyway, think the gaming industry needed something geared towards actually being fun. Away from Nintendo of course.
 
Hearing the new Astro Bot is around 12 hours long, is that accurate? Incredible score anyway, think the gaming industry needed something geared towards actually being fun. Away from Nintendo of course.
You don’t have to be youth oriented to be fun.
 
It looks every bit as good as I could've hoped for. We can only hope the critical success translates into commercial success. We need Sony to see that this is what we want.

I was thinking along these lines. Usually the games that get the high scores are super serious and that style has become has become so saturated over the past 5 years. I'd much prefer the industry gravitated back towards fun stuff.
 
I was thinking along these lines. Usually the games that get the high scores are super serious and that style has become has become so saturated over the past 5 years. I'd much prefer the industry gravitated back towards fun stuff.
Outside of Nintendo, that's probably true. I don't need just one or the other, just a good deal of variety, which Sony has been missing for a while now.
 
Outside of Nintendo, that's probably true. I don't need just one or the other, just a good deal of variety, which Sony has been missing for a while now.
I’d say that Rachet and Sackboy also gave me that same basic childish / chill fun experience. I’ll admit that I personally prefer taking my games seriously with immersion being the biggest gamer high for me but there’s a place for just a relaxed fun time. It may not be the same for others but I’d say Insomniac games in general including Spidey is just a plain old good time for me (not played 2). They’re simple enough with a bit of depth if you want it, look terrific and mechanically strong.
 
Looking to pick up a monitor for the ps5. Any recommendations?

Had a quick mooch and gigabyte m28u looks like a decent shout at an ok price point too.
 
I gave in and bought Astro. Am off for the month so feck it, rare I actually pay full price for a game in 2024 anyway. Can’t wait!
 
I'll join the chat when it's on PS Plus next July.
Not going to happen. They’ve learnt their lesson with the Horizon FW experiment which cost them. Don’t think we’ll see Sony’s first party titles anytime soon.
 
I gave in and bought Astro. Am off for the month so feck it, rare I actually pay full price for a game in 2024 anyway. Can’t wait!

The Digital Foundry review on YT sold it to me. Played like 40 minutes before bed last night and was absolutely blown away. Different gravy to dare I say it, Mario Odyssey even. Really think it's set the benchmark now.
 
I feel like AstroBot is one of a very few games that's pushing the gaming capabilities of the PS5 while other companies focus more on the visuals.
 
I feel like AstroBot is one of a very few games that's pushing the gaming capabilities of the PS5 while other companies focus more on the visuals.

Sony are basically doing what Nintendo do, with superior tech, but still staying within the boundaries of what the PS5 is capable of. No Ray Tracing for example or anything that'll drag performance down. It feels like a genuine continuation of the classic PS1 platformers, and Sony going back to their creative routes from that era. Except it's now five generations ahead.
 
The most frustrating thing is that everyone in game production could see for themselves what the haptic feedback and triggers could do; everyone was blown away by Astro's Playroom. It's not as if it was some shitty gimmick. It was the fecking Playstation demo ffs. Four years on and not a single AAA, AA, or indie team could put one fecking game together that made even decent use of the capabilities of the duel sense. It's taken Astro Bot again to do something with it. Will game designers learn? Probably not.
 
The most frustrating thing is that everyone in game production could see for themselves what the haptic feedback and triggers could do; everyone was blown away by Astro's Playroom. It's not as if it was some shitty gimmick. It was the fecking Playstation demo ffs. Four years on and not a single AAA, AA, or indie team could put one fecking game together that made even decent use of the capabilities of the duel sense. It's taken Astro Bot again to do something with it. Will game designers learn? Probably not.
There were a couple, most notably Returnal. Most of Sony's first party games make subtle use of its features, not to the extent of Astro but I don't thinks that's necessary in every game. Subtle use is often enough to enhance the experience.

Third parties have pretty much ignored it though. It was predictable, but still a shame.
 
The most frustrating thing is that everyone in game production could see for themselves what the haptic feedback and triggers could do; everyone was blown away by Astro's Playroom. It's not as if it was some shitty gimmick. It was the fecking Playstation demo ffs. Four years on and not a single AAA, AA, or indie team could put one fecking game together that made even decent use of the capabilities of the duel sense. It's taken Astro Bot again to do something with it. Will game designers learn? Probably not.
Yep, agree.

Astro's playroom is such as enjoyable experience and still holds a freshness to it due to its creative use of the PS5 controller.

It hasn't surprised me though that very few gaming companies have severely underused the potential of the kit.
 
There were a couple, most notably Returnal. Most of Sony's first party games make subtle use of its features, not to the extent of Astro but I don't thinks that's necessary in every game. Subtle use is often enough to enhance the experience.

Third parties have pretty much ignored it though. It was predictable, but still a shame.
It'll likely need Xbox to take it up in their controllers before we see it used more widely by third parties. Hell, 10+ years on there are companies still not utilising gyro more because they say the Xbox controller doesn't have it so it would be unfair. Guessing the new controller will be out with the next Xbox in 2026.
 
Games like CoD and that use the triggers well I thought ? Harder to press with certain weapons and things like that. Or am I making that up and thinking of another game? :lol:
 
The most frustrating thing is that everyone in game production could see for themselves what the haptic feedback and triggers could do; everyone was blown away by Astro's Playroom. It's not as if it was some shitty gimmick. It was the fecking Playstation demo ffs. Four years on and not a single AAA, AA, or indie team could put one fecking game together that made even decent use of the capabilities of the duel sense. It's taken Astro Bot again to do something with it. Will game designers learn? Probably not.
Horizon tried it with the triggers trying to mirror the tension of drawing the bow but it felt shit. I turned it off.
 
Been playing Astro Bot for the past 5 hours now. Absolutely terrific game. Just so fun. Really unsurprised at how high the ratings are for it.
 
The most frustrating thing is that everyone in game production could see for themselves what the haptic feedback and triggers could do; everyone was blown away by Astro's Playroom. It's not as if it was some shitty gimmick. It was the fecking Playstation demo ffs. Four years on and not a single AAA, AA, or indie team could put one fecking game together that made even decent use of the capabilities of the duel sense. It's taken Astro Bot again to do something with it. Will game designers learn? Probably not.
While not to the extent of Astro and more adaptive triggers than dual sense there are still many games that make use of the controller. For example, Returnal as @Ainu has one of the most immersive uses of the controller I’ve seen. But even aside from that, I personally feel that while devs could and eventually will do more, even the subtle ways in which it’s used in games makes a big difference. For example Cyberpunk’s various arsenal feels so weighty becuase of excellence use of the adaptive triggers with shotguns and sub machine guns feeling completely different. Riding on horses on Far Cry 6 or Witcher 3 next gen are also other examples but there are quite a few.

Astro of courses makes full use of the controller which is different albeit maybe not suited for every experience. Like I said, for me Returnal is the way to do it. It’s meaningful and immersive without overdoing it. I mean even the basic controls - hold trigger half way to aim - use it there.
 
Astrobot is...............

A motherfecking 94 on Metacritic.


It's not my thing but it is really nice to see a game like this - 12 hours long and creative- doing well. Hoping it might encourage Sony to diversify their gaming output.
 
Excited to play Astro with my boy. His favourite game is the built in Astro. He’s been counting the days to play this since I showed him the trailer in July.
 
While not to the extent of Astro and more adaptive triggers than dual sense there are still many games that make use of the controller. For example, Returnal as @Ainu has one of the most immersive uses of the controller I’ve seen. But even aside from that, I personally feel that while devs could and eventually will do more, even the subtle ways in which it’s used in games makes a big difference. For example Cyberpunk’s various arsenal feels so weighty becuase of excellence use of the adaptive triggers with shotguns and sub machine guns feeling completely different. Riding on horses on Far Cry 6 or Witcher 3 next gen are also other examples but there are quite a few.

Astro of courses makes full use of the controller which is different albeit maybe not suited for every experience. Like I said, for me Returnal is the way to do it. It’s meaningful and immersive without overdoing it. I mean even the basic controls - hold trigger half way to aim - use it there.

Driving on gravel on Far Cry 6 is a dream, I must admit.

Regarding Cyberpunk, I would be interested to see if they can inplement haptic feedback relative to proximity to blasts or mines, ranging from very strong, to weak.